Nokia unveils Linux-based smartphone, N900

In addition to elbowing its way into the netbook scene, Nokia has unveiled a new smartphone, the N900. Keeping its Internet Tablet devices close to heart, the company has given life to a tablet-smartphone-Frankenstein. The company sees its new handset as an evolution from its tablets - which, naturally, lacked cellular functionality.

The N900 will run Maemo 5, and feature a 3G cellular connection (WCDMA and HSPA at 900/1700/2100 MHz), a WVGA touchscreen display and hardware QWERTY keyboard. It will pack an ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 32GB of storage (expandable up to 48GB via microSD), and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration. Nokia's new smartphone will be capable of multitasking, it will run a browser made by Mozilla, and will support Adobe Flash 9.4.

Opinions of the N900 are mixed. Most seem to believe it will be a niche product only purchased by early adopters. Research firm CCS Insight considers the device an experiment, saying, "Its uninspiring design further reflects its experimental nature." They also feel that its appeal will largely lie in its software platform.

Experimental or otherwise, the N900 has quite the feature-set. Nokia's Franken-phone will be available in early October with an asking price of $712 before taxes and subsides.

Corsair launches 8GB and 12GB kits for Core i5/i7

Corsair has shown their new high-density offering, comprised of an 8GB and 12GB DDR3 kit. Designed for use with Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, the DDR3 DIMMs are available in dual and triple channel configurations. According to Corsair's vice president of technical marketing, John Beekley, early adopters of Windows 7 among other power users have recently been demanding 8GB and 12GB solutions.

The dual channel kit (part number CMD8GX3M4A1600C8) ships with four matched 2GB modules, tweaked for Intel's coming P55 platform. The triple channel setup (CMD12GX3M6A1600C8) is complete with six matched 2GB sticks, and is aimed at the currently available X58 platform. Both configurations have XMP profiles dialed in at 1600MHz, and CAS latency settings of 8-8-8-24.

The modules in each kit are cooled with Corsair's DHX+ heatspreader -- which is compatible with their liquid cooling apparatus -- and come with a fan. Unfortunately, there's no price or mention of availability - but you can expect to pay a premium.

gScreen shows off dual-display laptop, Spacebook

Using a laptop has distinct advantages over desktops, most prominently in the mobility department. To gain that boost in portability, though, sacrifices must be made. As a whole, laptops lack the computing muscle offered by their clunky counterparts. That shows in more areas than one - not least in precious screen real estate.

Acknowledging this, a little-known company named gScreen has earned a seat in the limelight with its dual-display-packing notebook. Called "Spacebook," gScreen is working on models that house two 13, 15.4, 16, or 17-inch LED-backlit LCD displays. With a specifically tailored sliding mechanism, the Spacebook's secondary display can be slipped out when needed, and tucked away when not.

In an interview with Gizmodo, gScreen said the Spacebook's specifications will include an Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GF900M, a 7200RPM HDD, DVD drive, six or nine-cell battery and Windows 7. The company's website has more details, listing a Core 2 Duo P8400, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 320GB 7200RPM HDD, 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GT or Quadro FX 1700M, and VGA/HDMI-out.

Given the slightly dated specifications, I assume the Spacebook's hardware will be revamped in the models to come. As attractive as a laptop with two displays may be, the complete package probably weighs in excess of 12lbs, not to mention the elevated power consumption. Just something to keep in mind before you plunk down your hard earned dollars.

The company is pressing for December 2009 launch -- probably to snag a few holiday sales -- and plans to have the first units sold via Amazon. Although there is no official price established, gScreen is reportedly trying to keep it below $3,000.

Intel adds to Yorkfield lineup, AMD preps new Phenom II X3

Despite having already trumped the Yorkfield lineup with their Bloomfield, soon-to-be-released Lynnfield, and distant Clarksfield chips, Intel is reportedly preparing to launch two new Core 2 Quad processors. The 45nm Yorkfield-based Core 2 Quad Q9500 and Q9505 may enter the market as watered down versions of the Q9550.

The Q9500's features will be parallel to those offered by the current Q9550, with an identical 2.83GHz core and 1333MHz FSB clock frequency, and a 95W TDP. The difference will supposedly be in cache size. Instead of the Q9550's 12MB of cache, Intel's new entry will only have 6MB. Even more confusing, the Q9505 will share identical specifications with the Q9500 - except it will pack VT-d and TXT.

The presently available Q9550 and Q9400 can be found online for $220 and $190 respectively, so if the new flavors are launched, expect to see them tagged somewhere in between the two. Intel's Lynnfield-based chips are expected to hit the scene on September 8, and that may also affect prices.

Apple discontinues all iPod SKUs, rumors of refresh surface

The iPod has greatly assisted Apple in maintaining their MP3 player market dominance. As it stands, "MP3 player" is nearly synonymous with iPod - much to Microsoft's chagrin. That doesn't mean Apple has been resting on their laurels, even if it seems that way to resellers. Numerous resellers are apparently concerned over a drop in stock volume, reporting low quantities of iPods available for resale.

That's just the tip of the iceberg though, with Cupertino announcing even more harrowing news. The company has discontinued all existing iPod SKUs, demonstrating that it is preparing to cease manufacture (and hence sales) of every existing iPod model. Is the iPod becoming stale? Perhaps, depending on your point of view - but it is still a blisteringly successful device.

Why would Apple put a stop to all their existing SKUs? Rumor has it that Apple is planning to refresh iPods across the board. This move seems to coincide with the widespread anticipation of a rumored September event. Though it's obvious they are planning something big for the iPod, Apple is tight-lipped as usual.

In the meantime, the halt may indicate a temporary shortage of iPods as existing supplies run dry.

TiVo accuses AT&T and Verizon of patent infringment

TiVo has filed suit against AT&T and Verizon for patent infringement - something the DVR maker is familiar with, after taking Dish/EchoStar to the cleaners. TiVo is seeking damages for infringed-upon patents including 6,233,389, 7,529,465 and 7,493,015. According to TiVo CEO Tom Rogers, there are multichannel operators who compete with TiVo through unauthorized use of its intellectual property.

Rogers added that TiVo "will continue to pursue enforcement where necessary" to prevent the infringement of its technology. He said that TiVo would continue to generate value through partnerships and distribution deals, but wanted investors to recognize its intellectual property. While TiVo has already succeeded in its retribution against EchoStar, the two have another hearing later this year.

In addition to the lawsuits, TiVo has reported a fiscal second quarter loss of $2.9 billion ($.3 per share), compared to a profit of $.3 per share last year. The company posted revenue of $57.3 million, down from $65.2 million a year ago. Overall, the company topped market expectations of a 5-cent-per-share loss.

OCZ unveils the SLC-based Agility EX SSD

OCZ Technology is expanding upon their Agility series of solid state drives today -- which we crowned as the best value option in our latest roundup -- with a new model it calls the most cost-efficient flash drive based on single-level cell (SLC) memory. Equipped with an Indilinx controller, the new Agility EX costs $399 but offers a raw storage capacity of just 60GB. By comparison, Intel's SLC-based X25-E will set you back some ~$700 for 64GB of storage.

Its sustained read and write speeds of 255MB/s and 195MB/s, respectively, aren't that much better (less in some cases) than the speediest MLC SSDs on the market. But SLC memory should still deliver much better random write performance, in addition to offering a greater life span and total cost of ownership.

The 2.5-inch drive features 64MB of onboard cache as well as an average seek time below 0.1ms, consumes 2W in operating mode and 0.5W in standby mode, and just like any other OCZ solid state drive is backed by a 3-year warranty. The company didn't disclose when the drives w

Iomega introduces StorCenter ix4-200d NAS

Iomega just expanded its StorCenter NAS line with the new-four bay StorCenter ix4-200d. Just like the smaller ix2, the ix4 can handle pretty much whatever you throw at it: filesharing over a laundry list of protocols, streaming to iTunes, an Xbox 360, handling your Time Machine backups -- it can even take video directly off Axis-brand IP surveillance cameras. On the hardware side, you're looking at dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, three USB ports for printer sharing and additional storage, and a "QuikTransfer" button that'll let yo copy files directly from a flash drive to the NAS without a computer. The downside? You'll have to pay for all that power: the 2TB version costs $700, and the top-of-the-line 8TB model will set you back a whopping $1,900. Yes, you can just get a dedicated server for that kind of money, but then you wouldn't be able to say you were rolling with NAS, now would you?

Lian-Li intros the PC-B25F chassis

Lian-Li has launched a new mid-tower case, the PC-B25F. Based on the original PC-B25 "Blue Ring," the new model preserves much of what made that case a success - although, there are some refinements. With a brushed, all aluminum chassis, the PC-B25F features a tool-less design, which includes eight sturdy aluminum and rubber-padded expansion slot brackets, a unique PSU mounting system, an HDD bracket with rubberized grommet struts, as well as easily removable top and front panels.

Lian-Li's PC-B25F ships with two 120mm 1200RPM fans mounted in the front, two 140mm 1000RPM fans positioned up top, and a single 120mm 1500RPM fan secured at the rear. It has plenty of space for your drives with three 5.25" drive bays (with an optional 3.5" external bay), and six internal 3.5" bays. The case's multimedia ports consist of one eSATA, two USB 2.0 and HD+AC97 audio ports.

The PC-B25F's dimensions in millimeters are 210W x 495H x 490D. It is expected to hit shelves around mid-September and can be perched on your desk for $190.

Corsair introduces new 256GB SSD

Corsair has introduced a new Extreme Series X256 SSD to its ever-expanding solid-state drive offering. As its name indicates, the Extreme Series X256 SSD packs a capacious 256GB of storage. It houses an Indilinx Barefoot controller, Samsung flash memory, and a 64MB cache. Corsair claims the drive is capable of reaching speeds of 240MB/s read and 170MB/s write. By comparison, Corsair's 256GB P Series, which uses a Samsung controller, claims a 220MB/s read and 200MB/s write speed.

The Corsair Extreme Series X256 is backed by a two-year limited warranty and is available now via authorized distributors and resellers worldwide. Although there was no mention of a price in the press release, Newegg is carrying it for $700 with a $50 mail-in rebate.

Sony S and E Series Walkman players to be launched next month

There has been rumors going around about Sony's S Series Walkman since July, and Sony's finally seen fit to make it official, also introducing the slightly lower-rent E Series. Specs on the former are completely in-line with expectations, including a 2.4-inch QVGA LCD, FM tuning and recording, along with support for a suite of formats including MP3, protected WMA, AAC, H.264, and WMV. Again as expected it offers battery life of 42 hour hours when playing music through headphones and 6.5 hours of video, but what we didn't know was that when you're rocking it out boom box style through the integrated speakers that drops to 17 hours and five hours oh so respectively. A palette of colorful options including black, pink, violet, and red will be available, with an 8GB model going for $110 and 16GB for $130. If that's a bit too rich for you there's the 2-inch E Series, sporting a slightly smaller chassis, slightly lower battery life (30 hours music and 4 hours video), and a slightly lower price of $80 for 8GB and $100 for 16. Both ship next month.

ASUS EeeTop PC ET20 and ET22 ready for a touch of Windows 7

There has been an anticipation that these ION-infused EeeTops since CeBIT and, after a few leaks along the way, ASUS has finally made things official. The 20-inch ET2002 and ET2002T (guess which one comes with the touchscreen) get an Atom 330 riding that ION chipset with integrated graphics, 2GB of DDR2, 320GB storage, WiFi, a DVD rewriter and stereo speakers. The 22-inch ET2203T matches the memory and connectivity options, but adds more spacious HDDs, a Blu-ray option, ATI Radeon HD4570 graphics, and a choice between T4300 and T6400 Core 2 Duos. All can be used as standalone displays for consoles and the like via a handy HDMI-in. Most importantly though, with Windows 7 upgradability, these should be among the first machines to receive the coveted Windows Touch sticker. Wear it proudly, ASUS.

RIM buys Iris browser developer, Torch Mobile

Blackberry-maker Research In Motion has purchased Torch Mobile, the developer of Iris browser, an Iris-based Web widget platform, an RSS reader, and enterprise-level software products. Torch Mobile's development team will merge with RIM, and their energy will be spent on enhancing the BlackBerry mobile browser experience. The companies have not disclosed financial details of sale.

The buyout is good news for BlackBerry owners, as the handset's default browser is lackluster at best. That said, it will probably be a while before end users feel any effect from the acquisition. The mobile browser Iris is widely used on Windows Mobile devices, but the deal will cease development for that platform.

This purchase is one of RIM's many attempts to maintain traction in the smartphone race. The company has faced stiff competition, with Apple rapidly consuming market share. In early June, RIM scooped up ailing GPS company Dash Navigation.

Microsoft extends Windows 7 Family Pack to Europe

Earlier this year, looking to placate anti-trust concerns in Europe, Microsoft proposed a browser-less version of Windows 7 for the region and then scratched that plan to favor the so-called browser ballot screen option. Its initial plan prevented European users from doing an in-place upgrade from Vista, though, so those who bought a copy of the operating system early were set to receive full licenses at upgrade prices.

Microsoft of course plans to honor those purchases but has now confirmed that, starting September 1, upgrade editions of Windows 7 with Internet Explorer 8 included will be available in the region as well. This leaves a one-week window in which European customers may continue to pre-order full versions of the OS at the upgrade price of €119.99.

Additionally, in a blog posting today at the Windows 7 Team Blog, Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc revealed that since upgrade editions will now be offered in Europe, the software giant will also be selling the three-license Family Pack - which contains upgrade editions - in select European countries. These include the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden.

LeBlanc mentioned that versions without Windows Media Player, marked with a prominent “N” and a big red box, will also be available for all Windows 7 SKUs in both full and upgrade editions, but for no discount off the regular price. This version is the result of a previous European antitrust suit over the inclusion of that software in Windows.

Nokia introduces Booklet 3G 'mini laptop'

Nokia rocked the world this morning by introducing its spin on the laptop, called the Booklet 3G. If you're the rude sortyou could call it a fancy netbook, what with its Atom processor and 10.1-inch display, but that screen is higher res than your average Eee, and it also sports integrated 3G wireless and a hot-swappable SIM card, so it's definitely trying to define its own niche. It looks to be running Windows 7, which isn't particularly netbooky, and also has integrated A-GPS with a copy of Ovi Maps, HDMI output, a rated 12 hour battery life, and the usual Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, all in a 2cm (.78 inch), 2.7lb aluminum body that's understated, sophisticated, and should make most Nokia fans very happy -- Nokia fans who are looking for a tiny laptop, anyway. There's a fancy promotional video after the break, and while we don't have any anticipated release date or price just yet, we'll be learning more at Nokia World 09 on September 2.

Microsoft responds to Xbox 360 54.2 percent failure rate report.

Admittedly, when I saw Game Informer's survey that pegged Xbox 360's failure rate at 54.2 percent, we were thinking that was a bit steep of a number, possibly bumped up a few digits from some possible sampling errors. So when we were gearing up to read Microsoft's statement responding to the data, we fully expected some harsh rebuttal of the number. Turns out we got disappointed. A spokesperson for Redmond pointed to its superior entertainment value, its "best warranty in the industry" and its "constantly improving design, manufacture, and performance." At no point is there a dispute or even direct reference to the findings, which is really something that could've helped public perception on a nagging issue

HTC intoduces Mega.

HTC's Mega certainly isn't the most exciting of the company's upcoming products to leak lately, but it's looking likely that it'll have one of the nicer price tags on it for a Window Mobile 6.5 device. Another screenshot has surfaced that matches up with one we saw earlier and shows off more of the sides and back. Along with it comes a new list of specs -- not too shabby, but nothing too exciting, either. According to ai.rs blog, it has WCDMA/HSPA and quad-band GSM support, a 3.2 megapixel camera, microSD slot, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, AGPS, and still the 2.8-inch QVGA screen and 528MHz Qualcomm processor we heard about previously. If you're already playing with the Mega's TouchFLO 2D-infused ROM, consider this supplementary material for getting a more thorough idea of what the actual phone will look like when it does come out -- whenever that is.

Linux users snub Bing, favor Google

According to a recent poll, which involved hundreds of millions of searches, the Linux community overwhelming favors Google. The Chitika survey concluded that Linux users favor Google at a ratio that surpasses Mac and Windows users, with nearly 95% of Linux desktops relying on Google. Macs weren't far off at about 92% and neither group seemed to have love for Bing, which dipped well under the 5% mark. Yahoo dwarfed Bing in those audiences.

If you think about it, the numbers aren't surprising in the lightest - Lnux users aren't using a Microsoft-based a search engine. It is interesting to see that Mac users are following the same trends, however - also snubbing Bing overwhelmingly in favor of Google, and in a small way Yahoo. With both Linux and Mac markets growing - Macs moreso - getting viewership from both camps will be more important to Microsoft. Bing, however, is just not having an impact on them.

Not that Bing needs a Linux user audience to be successful. As an unfortunate minority, Linux users (which includes myself) are simply too few and far between to influence these surveys and concern Microsoft - who has enjoyed relative success with their new search engine.

If Redmond is to gain Linux viewership down the road, it will probably be through functional (and free) APIs. Google has a plethora of functionality already available, such as the implement ion of AJAX Search API - which is probably a lot more useful to a developer than anything else.

MSI launches AMD-based Wind U210

In addition to introducing an AMD flavor of their X-Slim X600, MSI has unveiled an AMD-based version of their Wind U200 - cleverly named the Wind U210. The Wind U210-002 sports an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 1.6GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, Microsoft Windows XP Home and kicks off with an MSRP of 399 euros - or about $570.

A separate sub-model, the U210-010, spices things up with 2GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, Windows Vista Home Premium, and will start at 499 euros (around $642).

Both have a 12.1" display, an ATI Mobility Radeon X1250, a webcam, 802.11b/g, 10/100 Ethernet and Bluetooth connectivity, and each weighs about 1.5Kg (3.3lbs). Unfortunately, the translated press release failed to mention a release date - but the systems will ship with a 1-year warranty.